When it comes to flooring, carpeting is getting softer, hardwood is getting rougher and—wait for it—vinyl floors are becoming luxurious. So it might be time to considering changing your flooring before you sell.
Best yet, the flooring is totally water and stain resistant, carries a residential warranty of 25 years, and comes in a broad range of styles, colors and wood grain patterns. Sitting right in the middle of the flooring price range, at about $4 to $5 per square foot, the material’s look-alike qualities make it tough to distinguish from expensive wood planks.
But luxury vinyl is not the only new flooring drawing consumer attention. Other underfoot favorites include:
Wood Imitation Porcelain Tile
This is the most popular in large-format designs, coming in at least 12-inch squares and sometimes 12×24. Today’s trendy porcelain tile is made to mimic any surface from cobblestones to hardwood. Available in glazed or unglazed designs, the tiles are great for heavily-trafficked areas.
The Newest in Wood
If you’re a stickler for wood, the newest preferences are in larger planks and darker stains, with a growing interest in grey tones. Some new wood floors have a textured, hand-scraped look, making them look old (a sort of worn-blue jeans look) and some are actually reclaimed wood salvaged from old buildings.
Ultra-Soft Carpeting
New ways of processing fibers produce some of the softest carpeting ever. It’s available in cut-and-loop, in which the pile is partly cut and partly looped to create a sculpted look or pattern, most often ‘heathered’ and multi-tonal. While it may seem hard to believe, experts say carpeting remains the market-share leader, accounting for more than 60 percent of retail flooring sales.
